Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) has proposed yet another "compromise" on warrantless wiretapping, and in this "compromise," among other things, suits against big telecoms would be dismissed if said big telecoms can show that Mr. Bush gave them a note saying his request for customer information was legal, and then the court couldn't determine if said request actually was legal. In other words, if Mr. Bush says it's legal, it is. Well, there's a power no chief executive would ever abuse! I suspect the only way out of this mess for Mr. Bush would be to permit a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and then whine that if he'd just had his illegal wiretaps he could have saved us! I hope he's a better man than that, but the evidence does not compel hope. The ACLU has the contact tool.
The McGovern amendment (to release information on folks who attended the School of the Americas) passed the House last week, but not by a veto-proof majority; only one Republican voted for the amendment, the soon-to-be-retiring Ray LaHood of Illinois. (Ron Paul didn't vote.) Now the bill goes to the Senate, and SOA Watch still provides the contact tool; be sure to check the "send a fax" option versus the "send an email" option. The Senate might filibuster; I guess they'll whine about national security. I didn't hear them talking about national security that when Tha Bush Mobb clumsily outed a covert operative in late 2004.
After some pressure, Burger King agreed to pay Florida farmworkers a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked. A penny a pound doesn't sound like much, but tomatoes ain't light -- the New York Times estimates the pay raise to be 71%, still below a living wage for those workers, but much better than before. Burger King follows the example set by McDonalds and Taco Bell. American Rights at Work helps you send congratulations to the farmworkers. Remember, kids: a little bad PR can go a long way.